Markets Wired

The Federal Trade Commission has ended an operation whose telemarketers in Peru used deceptive and abusive tactics to sell products for learning English to Spanish-speaking consumers in the United States.

A federal court issued a default judgment resolving FTC charges brought in February 2017, alleging that the defendants sold various products and threatened to sue, arrest or jail consumers, or seize their homes, if they didn’t pay. They pretended to be affiliated with the government, a centro de ayuda (non-governmental “help center”), well-known companies such as Walmart, or a Spanish-language radio station.

Under the order announced today, ABC Hispana Inc., ISB Latino Inc., ABC Latina LLC, Gonzalo Ricardo Bazán Jiménez and Milagros Raquel Urmeneta are banned from telemarketing, and in selling any good or service they are prohibited from misrepresenting material facts. They are also barred from profiting from consumers’ personal information they had collected and failing to dispose of it properly.

The order imposes a judgment of more than $6.3 million against the defendants.

At the FTC’s request, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered the default judgment against the defendants on August 28, 2017.

To learn more about phone fraud, read Phone Scams. To stay informed about fraud, sign up to receive FTC Scams alerts at consumer.ftc.gov/scam-alerts. All of the FTC’s consumer education information is available in Spanish at consumidor.ftc.gov.

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. You can learn more about consumer topics and file a consumer complaint online or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357). Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, read our blogs and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.